Genetic Evolution; The Race for Intelligent Life

Genetic Evolution is a game about evolution. Several teams and/or individual players fight for dominance on the planet from the very first multi-cellular organisms. Over the course of the game the teams will get evolution points (EP) based on the fitness of their organisms. These points can then be spent to improve their organisms even further. The ultimate goal for the game is to achieve intelligence, which means to create a civilization.

Players:
The game is played with any amount of teams, but the more the better. Every player can be in only one team. Furthermore, the team can nominate a team-leader who will have the last word on team decisions (Otherwise, the team leader is the creator of the team by default). Optionally, the team can nominate a vice-team leader which will take the role of the team leader in the case of his absence. A team can consist of any number of players, even one. If a team player wants to go off on their own, they can negotiate with a team to use one of their organism pairs.

Beginning of the game:
Each team gets two organisms at the start, one plant (without nervous system) and one animal (with nervous system). These organisms should resemble something very primitive and therefore should lack any kind of specialization. Each team's organisms start at the same location on the map to create competition from the very beginning and to have working ecosystems and food chains to work with. It is up to the Gamemaster to decide how the teams get their starter organism. Here are some examples:

• The Gamemaster creates a set amount of organisms ready with descriptions, pictures and traits and lets the teams choose their starters.
• The teams send the Gamemaster their preferences and the Gamemaster creates two species for each team based on the information.
• The teams have to create their own species from the very beginning.

Map:
The map does not consist of tiles. Instead it looks more like a map of Risk, with differently sized parts. Each of those parts represents a different biome, which can be inhabited by different species. Two identical biomes will never touch each other, as they would immediately merge.
The map itself will change due to tectonic plate movement, which in turn will cause biomes to disappear, arise, merge or split. After a set amount of turns the Gamemaster will make a modification to the map showing the changes that happened. The amount of turns has to be stated at the beginning and should not be changed during the course of the game. The default is 10 turns.

Turns:
The turns will last a set amount of time which can be varied within the game depending on the complexity level of the world. During the turn each team gets to spend their evolution points and can declare their actions. At the end of each turn the Gamemaster will compile a list of the events that happened during the turn as well as updating the world and the map if necessary. Also he or she will have to exterminate all species that aren't fit enough to survive. He will then count the evolution points for each team and after that, the new turn will begin.

Actions:
During the turn, the players can declare different actions. Some of them cost EP, some don't.
Those that cost EP are;

• Evolve: This is split into two methods. The first is 'Evolve'. By changing one trait of a population once, a new species will arise in that biome. The old species will be replaced by the new one in that biome and/or neighbouring biomes. The cost of both actions depends on the trait that is being changed. For more Information, view the section 'Species'.
• Increase Biodiversity: Increases the Biodiversity of one population. For asexual species, the cost of this action is equal to the square of the current level. (1, 4, 9, 16, 25, ...) For sexual species, the cost is slightly different. (Explained in the section 'traits -> reproduction') Multiple levels can be gained at once if the creator pays for each level separately. For more information about biodiversity, view the section 'Traits'.
• Migrate: The population in a biome can be ordered to populate a biome next to it. This population can populate as many biomes in one turn as possible. When a species migrates to a new biome, the team pays any amount of EP up to the migrating population's biodiversity. The newly arrived population starts with that many biodiversity points. The points will not be subtracted from the mother population.

Those actions, that don't cost EP are;

• Devolve: Allows the population to lower either combat stat, temperature adaption, humidity adaption or a diet specialization level by one. As a form of evolution, it will cause the creation of a new species.

• Disaster: During the game, each team can use a disaster exactly one time. The Gamemaster will provide different disasters from which the teams can choose from. A disaster, once chosen, cannot be chosen again.

Disasters cannot be activated in the first ten turns of the game. To activate a disaster, the team leader will inform the Gamemaster with the required information. The disaster will take effect as soon as the map is changed. If two or more teams try to activate a disaster in the same turn, no disaster will happen and both teams get notified that the disaster was canceled this way. Their disaster however is not wasted and can be used at another time. If the activations were announced in different turns, then only the first team gets to get their disaster and the second (and third...) team will not get notified that their disaster is being canceled, and it is not wasted.

One population can have several actions at once. For instance, one population can increase its biodiversity and evolve in the same turn. Due to that, there is an order that determines which action comes first: Evolve/Speciate/Devolve (Create new species), Migrate to new areas, Increase Biodiversity.

Species:
When creating a new species, it has to follow the following template;
    Biome: This is required. It must be altered and declared if you migrate. You must also declare and record changes in biodiversity, which are placed as a number next to each biome.
    Name: The name is only important to identify the different species, so it can be anything from Latin names to a series of numbers.
    Picture: The picture is needed to understand how the species works as the traits cannot cover everything. While the picture itself does not influence the play, it is recommended, that it should be as     accurate as possible, because otherwise the Gamemaster can deny the species its evolution. However, the picture doesn't have to be an artistic masterpiece. It only needs a sketch of the species with     important anatomical details. No perspective or colour is required, but can be added. Species that feature polymorphism (sexual dimorphism, larval stages) have to show the differences between those     forms. (Female lion + male lion head, caterpillar + butterfly, etc.)
    Description: Like the picture, the description does not influence the game at all, but is recommended to add some depth to the species or explain some things that haven't been covered by the traits or     the picture. The description can be as short as possible and, in fact, can be left out completely, if the players don't feel like it. (However, a lack of explanation of some traits might cause disapproval by     the Gamemaster.)
    Ancestor: The name of the ancestor species.
    Traits: View the section 'Traits' for more information.
    Abilities: View the section 'Abilities' for more information.

Traits:
There are two types of traits. The first type contains those traits, which have to be stated on every species.

• Biodiversity: This trait is the only trait that can be varied from population to population within one species. The biodiversity indicates the variety of different phenotypes in that population. The higher the biodiversity is the better the chances of survival for this population in case of disasters, which may reduce the biodiversity. Note that biodiversity does not indicate the actual number of individuals. If two populations merge due to tectonic movement, the new population's biodiversity is equal to the higher biodiversity of the two merged populations.
• Size: Size is the only trait that can be evolved simultaneously with another evolution. It is needed to determine how many species can populate the same biome. There are 8 different sizes, where 1 is the smallest and 8 the largest. The starters' size is 1. For animal species to gain one size there must be animals, which share at least one diet, available in all smaller sizes. (That means a size 4 filter feeder can only evolve or migrate into a biome if there are size 1, 2 and 3 filter feeders.) For plants (lacking a nervous system) there has to be one species that is the size under yours and has the same nutrient tolerance. If that species is present in that biome, your bigger species may evolve/migrate into that biome. Of course there can be more than three animal species of the same size as long as they all fill different niches. The cost to increase or decrease in one size is 2^x, where X is the current size. (Size 1 to 2 = 2 EP, Size 4 to 5 = 2*2*2*2 = 16 EP, Size 7 to 8 = 2*2*2*2*2*2*2 = 128 EP)
  Size Code: 1 - 1 mm, 2 - 1 cm, 3 - 10 cm, 4 - 50 cm, 5 - 1.5 m, 6 - 3 m, 7 - 10 m, 8 - more than 10 m
  (Size also contributes to the combat skill, which is +2 for each size bigger than the predator/prey.)
• Reproduction: This can either be asexual or sexual. The starters will be asexual by default. Evolving sexual reproduction costs 40 EP and requires a propagation method other than "budding“. Sexual species will always get two biodiversity points when increasing it instead of just one. The cost for increased biodiversity of sexual species is the point number, squared, which is divided by two, then squared again.
• Propagation: Propagation determines what type the offspring is. Each species must have exactly one way of propagation. The starters' propagation is budding, but can be changed. For more information, view the propagation chart:

• Temperature: Temperature adaption is the ability to live in more extreme biomes. The higher the number, the more extreme the region in which the species is supposed to live. The scale goes from 1 to 5 but can be increased beyond 5 with the ability 'endothermy'. The cost to increase or decrease the temperature adaption is three times as many EP as the current level of temperature adaption is. Populations with a stat lower than the required minimum will lose levels of diversity equal to the difference each turn until they adapt.
  
• Humidity: Humidity adaption works exactly the same way as the temperature adaption. The higher the humidity adaption is, the more arid regions it can inhabit.
  
• Combat: The combat stat describes how good a predator is at killing its prey or how good prey is at defending itself from predators. The combat stat is a simple number. The cost to increase or decrease the combat stat by 1 is ten times as many EP as the current combat stat is. To get from 0 combat to 1 combat costs 5 EP.
  After each turn, if the combat stat of the predator is 3 points higher than that of the prey, the prey population loses one biodiversity point. On the contrary, if the combat stat of the prey is 3 points higher than that of the predator, then the predator population will lose one biodiversity point. Otherwise, no population loses biodiversity.
  Combat points can be represented in different ways. The most obvious is normal weapons like spikes, fangs and claws. Prey animals can also feature armour. However, more exotic ways of defense may be evolved as long as the players explain it. Under combat also falls the ability to hide (camouflage).
• Abilities: (See below.)
  

The second types of traits can only be found on either plants (those without a nervous system) or animals.
Plants:

• Nutrient consumption: Only non-merged photosynthetic organisms have this stat. It has three different forms: 'Low', 'Medium' and 'High', where species with 'High' need the most nutrients to survive while species with 'Low' can live on grounds scarce in nutrients. All biomes with the exception of mountains have all three qualities of soil. Mountain biomes only have soil that is suitable for species with a Low nutrient consumption. This stat can only be changed into Medium or from Medium into either Low or High. (*Low <-> Medium* and *Medium <-> High*) This evolution costs 20 EP.

Animals:

• Diet: There are eight different forms of diet. Animals, which feed upon other species, are called either herbivores or carnivores depending on the type of food they eat. The same is true for ovivores/granivores, which both eat the eggs/seeds of other species, and detritivores/corpivores, which feed upon dead plant/animal matter. Detritovores and corpivores don't need to state organisms, from which they feed off. These six forms can be mixed with each other, so, for example, a species could be an herbivore and an ovivore at the same time. Whenever a species feeds upon both animal and plant sources it is called an omnivore. Two more special diets are parasite and filter feeder. Those two diets can't mix with other diets and as soon as a species evolves parasitism or becomes a filter feeder, it loses its diets. While parasites have to state a prey species as well, filter feeders feed upon microscopic background species. Only aquatic (or amphibious) species can become filter feeders. There is one filter feeder slot for each size in each marine biome. That means there can be 8 differently sized filter feeders living in the same habitat. Additionally the amount of plankton can be raised by spawning propagation, which is not tied to a certain size slot. All detritivores and corpivores in each biome have to be a different size. For instance in one biome there can be a size 2 corpivore and a size 1 detritivore, but there cannot be another size 1 detritivore. Similarly a size 1 detritivore/corpivore takes the size 1 slot for both diets. There are some restrictions to the diets however: Detritivores/corpivores are not allowed to exceed half the size of the biggest species of the type, from which they feed off. (For example, if the biggest plant in a biome has a size of 5, then no detritivore may be larger than size 2.) Ovivores/Granivores must be at least 2 sizes smaller than their prey and parasites must be at least 3 sizes smaller than their hosts. The minimum size for both is 1. (That means, a size 1 parasite may feed off of a size 1/2/3 host.) Herbivorous species have no restrictions, but carnivorous species can only hunt prey up to their own size. There are three ways to evolve the diet. The first is to evolve a whole new diet. Then the players have to state how the species gets its food and from which prey. Furthermore the specialization level is set to 1. (Template: Herbivore (Species name) 1) This evolution costs 40 EP. The second evolution is to add a new species to the diet. This costs 30 EP. Instead of just adding a species to the template given above, the species has to have two instances of the same diet, but with different prey and specialization levels, which is set to 1, when a new species is added to the diet.
  The third option is to increase the specialization level by 1. This costs twice as many EP as the current specialization level is. All species that evolve from the prey species will automatically become prey as well, if they meet the criteria.
• Speed: Speed determines how fast a species is at a certain form of locomotion. The four different types of locomotion are swimming, walking, climbing and flying. Swimming is the default for the starters. It can only be obtained by aquatic or amphibious animals. Walking can be evolved by amphibious and terrestrial animals and describes any way of moving on the ground. Climbing can only be evolved by walking animals, while flying can only be evolved by climbing animals. Any animal that does not have any locomotion is considered immobile. Note that immobile species cannot feed on plants or other immobile species. Climbing animals must be at least two sizes smaller than the biggest plant species present in that biome. (For example, if the biggest plant in a biome has a size of 7, then no climbing animal may be larger than size 5.) Predators can only successfully predate on prey species if their speed stat is at least equal to the prey's speed level. If it is lower, it will fail to hunt that species and the prey will be removed from the predator's diet list. This only works if the locomotion is more flexible than the shared one. The rule is: swimming < walking < climbing < flying, where '<' means 'less flexible than'. If predator and prey share no locomotion at all, then the predator fails to hunt its prey. Increasing the speed of one locomotion costs EP that is their level, plus one, squared. (It's similar to biodiversity) Evolving climbing (starting with level 1) costs 25 EP. Flight and Walking have their own costs, as stated in the ability section.
• Intelligence: The trait itself is the only way to win the game. The cost of increasing the intelligence by one level is equal to (2^x EP /size)*20 (rounded up), where x is the next level. For example, for a size 4 animal, to advance from intelligence level 4 to 5 the cost is (2^5 EP /4)*20 = (2x2x2x2x2 EP /4)*20 = (32 EP/4)*20 = 8 EP*20 = 160 EP. Once a species reaches level 10, the creator team wins the game. It also has a second function: During disasters every 3 points of intelligence saves exactly one loss of biodiversity. That means you can save up to three points at once during a disaster.
  
  

Abilities:
Besides the regular stats, some species may also evolve additional abilities. If a species has no abilities, then this part of the template has to be filled with 'None'.

• Pack: Packs can only be evolved by animals with an intelligence of at least 5. This ability behaves quite differently whether the species acts as a predator or as prey. Predators hunting in packs are allowed to take down prey one size bigger than their own, while prey species gain a +4 bonus on their combat stat. This ability costs 60 EP. Idle malus for predators: 4 EP.
  
• Nocturnal: Only animal species are allowed to evolve a nocturnal behavior. Nocturnal species can take niches that are already occupied by diurnal species without competing with them. Nocturnal predators can hunt nocturnal prey only. Evolving a nocturnal behavior costs 20 EP, while endotherms need to spend only 5 EP. Deep-sea species cannot evolve a nocturnal behavior.
• Toxin: By producing a certain poison within the species' body, it becomes fully protected against predators which are not immune to this poison. When evolving a toxin, the creator needs to choose an existing poison or create a new poison. As with the species' names, the poison's name can be almost anything, as long as it can be identified as a poison from the name. (Adding 'poison' at the end of the name generally helps.) This is needed to identify the different types of poison and to evolve immunities against certain poisons. Evolving a new toxin costs 90 EP. Idle malus: 15
• Venom: While venom is a type of poison as well, venoms are used in an active manner, like spikes and fangs. Thus instead of rendering the species invincible it merely doubles its combat stat against species which are not immune to its poison. Just as a toxin, venom demands a name for its poison as well. The cost for evolving venom is 40 EP for carnivorous species and 20 EP for other species. (Idle malus tied to combat skill)
• Immunity: Immunity towards a certain poison renders the species completely protected from that poison. That means, that it can hunt species with the chosen toxin and species it fights with lose their venom bonuses. One species can evolve multiple immunities, but not at once. The cost to evolve immunity towards a special poison is 30 EP. Idle malus: None, but is removed when poison does not exist anymore.
• Endothermy: Endothermy simply adds 3 to the temperature stat. It costs 80 EP.
• Flight: Flight cannot be obtained instantly, but needs to be evolved over a period of time. When first evolving flight its value is set to 1. Evolving flight and raising or decreasing the value by one costs 30 EP. Once the species has achieved the value 3, flight is removed from the ability section to the traits section 'speed', where it can be upgraded like any other locomotion. Flight can obviously only be evolved by animals and allows the species to skip one biome when migrating. Idle malus: Normal speed penalty
• Terrestrial: A terrestrial lifestyle is obtained similarly to flight; just that the goal value is 5 and the cost is 50 EP. As long as a species is not fully terrestrial it is an amphibious species. Once a species reaches value 5, it loses its swimming skill. Terrestrial species may be able to re-enter the amphibious phase with a starting value of 3 and can increase/decrease this value by paying 20 EP. If such a species would reach value 4, it instead obtains a fully terrestrial lifestyle again. Aquatic species which have been terrestrial once cannot populate the deep-sea for obvious reasons.
• Ichthyomorphy: Like Flight and Terrestrial, Ichthyomorphy is not obtained with one evolution, but instead is a gradual process. Increasing or decreasing Ichthyomorphy by 1 costs 20 EP. The amount of steps is 10. As long as an animal hasn't obtained an Ichthyomorphy stat of 10 it is an amphibious animal, but as soon as it passes the tenth step, it becomes fully aquatic with the exception that it can't migrate to the deep-sea under any circumstances. Obviously, only animals can evolve this ability once they have gotten the respiration bauplan and have become fully terrestrial. Amphibians that return back to the ocean before having evolved a terrestrial lifestyle lose their respiration bauplan and are not counted as Ichthyomorphs.
• Chemosynthesis: The cost for this ability is 100 EP and can only be evolved by deep-sea dwelling animals. When a species evolves chemosynthesis, it loses all of its other diets and it becomes a 'chemovore'. Similar to detritivores/corpivores, each chemovore species in a biome has to be a different size. Furthermore, chemovores cannot exceed size 3. When a chemovorous species evolves a different diet, it loses its chemosynthesis ability.
• Dimorphism: Dimorphism means that different individuals of the same species have a different phenotype. PeaBelgiums for instance feature a sexual dimorphism while butterflies feature larval dimorphism. Dimorphism itself costs 20 EP and needs another evolution (costs must be paid). When evolving dimorphism, the species template for that species is split into two. One for the adult/female. The other for the larva/male. (Note that sexual dimorphism can only be evolved if the species already got sexual reproduction.) The evolution accompanying the dimorphism is applied to only one of the two forms. Whenever this species evolves in the future, the creator decides whether the evolution is just for one part or for the whole species. Traits unaffected by dimorphism are reproduction, propagation and intelligence. They are always the same on all different morphs. Given another evolution a species can feature both sexual dimorphism and larval dimorphism leading to three different morphs: Female, male and larva. When the larval dimorphism is evolved after the sexual dimorphism, the larva's stats are copied from the female template.
• Broodcare: Broodcare changes the way ovivores feed upon other species' eggs. Instead of just having it as a food source, ovivores will now have to compare their combat/speed stats to their prey species just as carnivores do. However, ovivores get no benefit from the ability 'Ambush'. Evolving broodcare costs 60 EP.
• Ambush: Instead of ignoring the prey's speed and combat completely, ambush predators will just ignore the speed, while the combat stat is still used. However, ambushed prey species can use intelligence to add points to their fighting ability. Furthermore, ambush is a gradual ability, which means a species starts with level 1 ambush and can evolve it further. Each level of ambush increases the predator's fighting ability. Increasing ambush by one level costs ten times the next level. (If next level is 7, it costs 70 EP.) Idle malus: tied to leftover combat skill
• Mimicry: When evolving mimicry the creator must state a species in the same biome of the same type (plant/animal) that the evolved species is going to mimic. That species will use the mimicked species' combat stat instead of its own (with all bonuses like venom). Mimicry costs 15 EP.
• Hive: Hives can only be evolved by animals of the size 1 to 3. When fighting or evolving intelligence, hive creatures are treated as if they were 3 sizes bigger. The cost to evolve a hive is 40 EP.
• Antifreeze: Raises the temperature adaption by 1. This ability is devolved as soon as the species does not live in subpolar or polar biomes. Cost: 15 EP.
• Immobility: This ability is not so much a true ability on its own, but rather a result of a speed stat of 0. Immobile animal species have the side effect, that every mobile species in the same biome produces an additional EP each turn. This only counts for species of the same team, so a "blue coral" won't boost the EP income of a "red fish". This is also cumulative so each immobile species will boost the other species separately. (Three different species of immobile animals will provide a +3 EP boost for each mobile species in the same biome.) Note that immobile species cannot feed on plants or other immobile species.
  

Symbiosis:
Symbiosis, while actually an ability, is so complex, that it deserves its own chapter. Symbioses have to be initiated by a species and require a target species in the same biome controlled by another team. The species starting the symbiosis is called the Symbiont (S for short) and the target species is simply called Target (T for short). To figure out which evolutions can be evolved, refer to this chart:
As long as both species meet the requirements, the Symbiont can evolve the symbiosis paying the specific cost. During the next turn, the Target can now also evolve a symbiosis for the Symbiont (switching the roles). If both species have evolved a symbiosis for one another, it is called a Full Symbiosis. Full symbioses have the advantage, that whenever a population of one of the two species raises their BD, the population of the other species in that biome also gets an additional point of BD. This is not cumulative, so having two Full symbioses between two species doesn't give out two BD.

A special type of symbiosis is 'Merge'. This can only happen between a purely photosynthetic or chemosynthetic organism and an organism that is at least three sizes larger. This costs 60 EP. The two teams must decide to split the pay by paying part of a number of halves, thirds, quarters or fifths, and the rule is that the larger organism never pays less than the plant. The amount of EP given by the merged organism, and anything that evolves from it is split between the teams in the same ratio that they paid for the symbiosis with. The effect is that the smaller organism adds its diet, toxins, immunity and antifreeze (if present) to the larger one. Note that when evolving a symbiosis, only the Symbiont is required to create a new species, as with every new evolution. Whenever one of the two symbionts evolves, the symbioses stay as long as both parent symbionts are still present in the same biome. (A symbiosis will not carry to the next generation if the symbiosis partner has gone extinct or they don't share a biome anymore.)

End of a turn:
At the end of the turn, the Gamemaster will prepare the game for the next turn. He or she will also calculate the EP and give them to each team. The actions are in the following order;

• Events: At first the Gamemaster will make a short summary of events that happened during the turn. Disasters also fall into this category and may cause damage to various species.
• Updating the world: If this turn is the last turn of a round, then the Gamemaster has to provide a new map showing the changes brought to the world by tectonic plate movement and disasters.
• Extermination: Quite often species will occupy the same niche due to evolutions or migrations. Due to the competitive exclusion principle, the less fit species will be exterminated completely.
• EP: Once all the biomes have been cleaned of the weaker species, the Gamemaster will count the EP produced by each population. Unused EP of a turn will not be transferred to the next one.
  
  

Golden Rules of Competition:

• If a species is better suited for an environment, it will outcompete the inferior organism. (Diet specialization levels are the main indicators. If both are the same, then idle mali decide which organism is more fit.)
• If a species occupies the same niche as its parental species, it will replace it.
• If two species in a biome are equal in fitness, then the one that has inhabited the biome for a longer time outcompetes the newly arrived species.
• If none of the above is true, that means both species are equal in fitness, are not directly related to each other and arrived at the same biome simultaneously, then it is decided at random which species outcompetes the other.
  

The amount of EP produced by each population is as follows: The base EP is equal to the biodiversity of the population. From that amount several things are subtracted such as idle mali and combat results, but also other numbers are added in the case of symbiosis. However, no matter how many negative numbers a population might score, each population will produce at least 1 EP. An idle malus is a penalty which reduces the amount of EP a population produces by subtracting the number of 'unused' traits. For instance, if a species got a combat skill of 5, but a certain population needs only 2 to fight off predators, then the idle malus for combat for that population is 3. Traits which create idle mali are:

• Combat
• Unused diets (specialization level)
• Speed (tied to combat skill)
• Temperature & humidity adaptions
• Certain abilities

Biomes:
There are a variety of different biomes, categorized into three groups: marine, terrestrial and (for a lack of a better name) special biomes.
Each biome gets different humidity and/or temperature values, but don't worry, these will be put on the map itself, so you don't have to worry about memorizing it. But for the sake of completeness, below are listed all the different values for the biomes. Note that a planet will always span three different temperature levels at one time. So there won't be tropical and polar biomes at the same time. Same goes for humidity.

Terrestrial biomes:
A terrestrial biome cannot be inhabited by amphibian and aquatic species.
Temperature:

1. All tropical biomes
2. All subtropical biomes
3. All temperate biomes
4. All subpolar biomes
5. All subpolar biomes (will outcompete newly arrived level 4 species filling the same niche)
6. Polar (Note that species can't adapt for Polar Regions only using the
   temperature adaption, they will have to use abilities in order to raise
   their temperature adaption beyond 5.)

Humidity:

1. Tropical humid & subtropical humid
2. Tropical semi humid, subtropical semi humid, temperate humid, & subpolar humid
3. Tropical moderate, temperate moderate & polar
4. Tropical semiarid, subtropical semiarid, temperate arid, & subpolar arid
5. Tropical arid & subtropical arid

Marine biomes:
A marine biome cannot be inhabited by amphibian and terrestrial species and plants. Shelves are the exception to this rule. Shelves are the only marine biomes where plants can exist and shelves that touch terrestrial biomes can harbor terrestrial and amphibic species, except for islands, since they support those types already by themselves.
Temperature:

1. Tropical shelf & tropical ocean
2. Subtropical shelf & tropical ocean
3. Temperate shelf & temperate ocean
4. Subpolar shelf
5. Polar shelf, polar ocean & deep sea (It's cold down there)

Marine species have no need for humidity adaptions.
Since special biomes have special rules to them, they are going to be explained in detail instead of just giving the values. In fact most special biomes don't have temperature/humidity values on their own.

River biome:
The river is a freshwater biome and can consist of multiple segments. Species can migrate from the river into the surrounding biome (a river never divides a biome into two) and vice versa as well as into neighboring river segments. A river's temperature value is equal to the one of the biome it's flowing through. If a river is flowing through different temperature zones, it will be divided into different segments which work as their own biomes. So, for example, if a river is starting in a temperate-humid biome, is flowing through a temperate-moderate biome then through a subtropical-semiarid biome and ends in a temperate-moderate biome, then it will be divided into three parts: First temperate, subtropical and second temperate, where it doesn't matter if the two temperate-moderate biomes are the same.
Rivers can be inhabited by terrestrial, amphibian and aquatic species.

Mountain biome:
Mountains are only different from other terrestrial biomes in that they have their own temperature and humidity values no matter where on the map they're located. Their temperature value is 4 and their humidity value is 5. (Snow-covered mountains are treated as polar biomes.) Furthermore, due to the lack of soil, only plants with a nutrient tolerance of 1 can live in the mountains.

Insular biomes:
Insular biomes have no actual value on their own and are always one other biome at the same time. The two Biomes Lake and Island work very similarly, though they are diametrically opposed: Lakes can only be found on continents while islands only exist in the open oceans. Both biomes can be inhabited by terrestrial, amphibian and aquatic species.
The big advantage about insular biomes is that the EP gain from species living in these biomes is doubled. (After all the subtractions.) However, they have a short life-span and will generally last only one round, before they disappear. Due to this they won't be named by the players.
Insular biomes can form in two ways. First they 'pop' into existence. That means spontaneous eruptions or earthquakes can create new islands or lakes. The second way is more predictable: Due to tectonic movements some biomes can shrink in size up to the point that they are small enough to be considered islands/lakes. This happens only when they are cut from the continent (island) or the ocean (lake). Of course the reverse may happen as well, so that islands and lakes may turn into proper biomes and thus losing their EP doubling ability.

Naming biomes:
To identify the different biomes, players can give them names. When the first species is populating a biome (and survives) the creator team may give the biome any name they wish, as long as it is within good taste and abides by the Gamemaster’s sensibilities. (Each river segment is considered its own biome.)

Disasters:
How disasters are drawn:

• Example 1: It is round 4, turn 2. Team Timmy announces a disaster. In
  turn 6 of the same round Team Johnny announces a disaster too, but since
  Timmy has announced it earlier (Time is irrelevant, only turns count),
  at the end of the round only Timmy's disaster happens, while Johnny gets
  notified that another team was first (It is never revealed by the
  Gamemaster which team chose the disaster.) and that his "disaster point"
  is not lost. He just gets it back and can reuse it later, while Timmy
  can, until the end of the game, not use another disaster.
  
• Example 2: Again it is round 4, turn 2. During this turn both Timmy and Johnny announce a disaster. (Note that "announcing" a disaster is done privately to the Gamemaster.) The Gamemaster sees that two teams announce a disaster in the same turn, so he or she notifies BOTH of them that their disaster was canceled due to a tie. These teams cannot announce a disaster a second time during this round; they have to wait for round 5. As well, both teams get their disaster point back.
• Example 3: Now things are getting more complicated. It is round 4, turn 2 again and both Timmy and Johnny have inquired the Gamemaster saying they want a disaster and they both got a reply from the Gamemaster, stating their disaster was canceled. Now, however, a third team -Team Spike- thinks it's an ideal time to announce a disaster during turn 5. Since the disasters of turn 2 have been canceled, there is a new chance until the end of the round to announce disasters (Just not for Timmy and Johnny). Assuming that no other team also announces a disaster in the same turn as Spike, Spike gets its disaster at the end of the round.
  

List of Disasters:

• Ice Age:
  An ice age will cool down the planet by one
  temperature level. Furthermore it will freeze a large amount of water
  and thus both the humidity and the sea levels will decrease.
• Global Warming:
  This is the exact opposite of an ice age. Not
  only will it cause the planet's temperature to warm up but also it will
  melt some of the ice and therefore raises both humidity and sea levels.
• Supernova:
  Unlike ice ages and global warmings, supernovae do
  not affect the planet's climate (in this game...) but rather cause the
  populations of the planet to lose biodiversity points immediately.
  Supernovae expose organisms on the surface to deadly radiation. Marine
  organisms aren't affected that much as they are protected by the water,
  though surface-dwelling organisms can still take damage from the
  radiation. The loss of biodiversity is as follows:
  • Terrestrial biomes (including rivers and islands) - Populations lose biodiversity equal to their size.
  • Shallows and lakes - Populations lose biodiversity equal to half their
    size rounded up. (Size 4 -> 2 points, size 7 -> 4 points.)
  • Oceans - Populations lose only 1 point of biodiversity regardless of their size.
  • Deep-sea - Organisms living in the deep-sea are not affected by a supernova at all.

• Impact:
  An impact is probably the most destructive disaster in the whole game, as it kills off all animals of size 6 and bigger immediately. Plants and smaller animals will lose biodiversity points equal to their size (similarly to a supernova), where this loss is multiplied by 3 in the biome where the impact hit and by 2 in the surrounding biomes. Lakes and islands get the same multiplier as the biome they're located in. The loss of populations living in rivers is halved. The biome which is hit by the impact is determined randomly.
  
• Magnetic Reversal:
  The Magnetic Reversal will switch the magnetic
  poles. This has a huge impact on the ocean currents and disturbs the
  plankton growth, which in turn kills off many filter feeding species.
  Also many species rely on the magnetic poles for navigation, especially
  flying ones.
  • All populations will lose BD equal to the connected biomes for that species. So if a species has three populations on continent A and three on continent B and both continents don't touch, all populations of that species will lose 3 BD.
    
  • Flying species will be hit twice as hard.
  • Filter feeders will be hit thrice as hard.

Losing an empire:
If a team lost one of their starter lines (called a kingdom) then they will get two options. The first is the ability to evolve one of their species into another kingdom. For instance if a team lost their animal lineage, then they will be able to evolve one of their plants into an animal-like species. To do this, the Gamemaster provides a selection of species which are allowed to evolve and then the team gets to choose which one will be the new 'animal' (or plant, depending on the situation). However, a team can do this only once for each kingdom. (If their second plant kingdom went extinct as well, they are not allowed to produce a third plant kingdom.)
The other option is to negotiate with another team for a new species. That species is then treated as part of your kingdom.
If a team loses both their animal and their plant kingdom at the same time, they will be treated as a newcomer. (If they already lost one kingdom, they can only get back with one kingdom.)

Cornu viridis:
Though the game is intended to play from beginning to end, new teams are more than welcome. Since giving them starter organisms would give them a huge disadvantage, entering the game is achieved differently. First the team leader has to notify the Gamemaster of the new team information (members, vice leader, etc.). This is done privately, because at the end of a round the team leader will select one species of both plants and animals which have been evolved during the last turn. These species will then belong to the new team and are considered new kingdoms. At the beginning of the next round this team enters the game with these two species as their 'starters'.

Bauplans:
Animal starter bauplans:

Notochord

• Animals with notochords are often referred to as vertebrates, as notochords tend to ossify and form short segments to protect the nerve cord while still allowing for flexibility. Notochords give a certain flexibility and strength to the animal's movements by serving as a supporter for the whole body. This makes vertebrates faster than other taxons in general as they don't have to rely solely on extra appendages for movement but instead can use the length of their body as well and most often movements of their body -be it sideways or upside down- are the main source of their locomotion with appendages and limbs merely supporting the animal's movements. However such a spine has a major downside. Since all nerves are concentrated in a single cord a notochord is a very weak point rendering most vertebrates relatively vulnerable to other taxons physically speaking.
• Bonus: Increasing the speed stat costs 10% less EP. (Rounded up)
• Malus: Increasing the combat stat costs 10% more EP. (Rounded up)

Exoskeleton

• Exoskeletons are usually made of chitin or other hardened organic material. They give the animal it wears a natural armor and supports the body in a similar way an endoskeleton does. However, exoskeletons, as great as they are for protection aren't very flexible. For appendages and joints there have to be gaps thus limiting the flexibility of the movement and subtly hindering the locomotion of the animal.
• Bonus: Increasing the combat stat costs 10% less EP. (Rounded up)
• Malus: Increasing the speed stat costs 10% more EP. (Rounded up)

Radial Symmetry

• Truly radially symmetric organisms can be mirrored several times on different axes which all intersect in the middle of the animal. Thus the organism's organs are either formed like a ring or copied several times around the animal's body. This setup bears some fascinating results. On the one hand a wound isn't as life threatening as it would be to members of other taxons as the functionality of the whole organism is only severely hindered if an organ in the middle is damaged. A part of a radial's body can be removed without killing the whole organism as it got "back-up" organs on its other symmetry axes. This greatly allows radials to withstand most dangers as they can recover from injuries far better than a bilateral organism. On the other hand, a radially symmetric body has a high failure rate of new mutations as they often screw up the functionality of the organism completely. Organs either have to be formed in a very specific shape which makes it difficult to evolve new ones or they have to be grown multiple times in its body which might waste energy.
• Bonus: Whenever a radially symmetric population would lose a biodiversity point due to a disaster or special event, there's a 50/50 chance that the point is saved.
• Malus: All evolution costs are increased by 1 EP. (Increasing biodiversity, migrating aren't evolutions and all devolutions except a size decrease don't cost anything.)

Mantle

• A mantle is a muscular body wall that houses most of the internal organs of the animal. Usually it will protrude from the body in form of flaps which in turn might create additional cavities between the body of the animal and the mantle. The mantle and the resulting cavity can be shaped into many different organs and serves as some kind of evolutionary canvas by adapting to different lifestyles through refunctioning and reshaping the mantle and its cavity. This has led mantled clades to a great biodiversity as they can evolve faster and more efficient. Unfortunately for reasons unknown, organisms with mantles are also a lot more vulnerable to sudden ecological changes. Whether there is a direct correlation with the mantle itself or if it’s just a byproduct of their vast diversity has yet to be found out. But great disasters usually eradicate a lot more species of mantled animals proportionally than it does of other clades.
• Bonus: All evolution costs are decreased by 1 EP. (Increasing biodiversity, migrating aren't evolutions and all devolutions except a size decrease don't cost anything.)
• Malus: During extinction events, populations with the mantle bauplan will lose twice as many biodiversity points.

Hydraulic Muscles

• Hydraulic muscles are chambers or tubes inside of an animal's body, which can be filled by water. By filling them, the chambers expand and become strong. When the water is pumped out though, the chambers will shrink and become flaccid. This system can be used to mimic a real muscle system made of fibers. Unlike those, however, hydraulic muscles can become much stronger, as it is water that keeps the chambers in shape instead of cells. This makes it a lot easier for hydraulic organisms to go onto land or to take into the air as the water-filled chambers and tubes can support their weight easier than fiber muscles. However, hydraulic muscles require a very fine-tuned pumping system and the strength and dexterity of hydraulic muscles is greatly influenced by the temperature, as different temperatures alter the water's density. The result of this is that hydraulic animals evolve to different temperatures more slowly than other clades.
• Bonus: Creatures with hydraulic muscles always advance two steps when increasing or decreasing their Terrestrial or Flight stat.
• Malus: Increasing temperature adaption costs 10% more EP. (Rounded up)

Plant starter bauplans:

White Cells

• White plants possess a colourless dye that feeds off of ultraviolet light. However, the dye also makes the plant spongy as the dye uses up large amounts of nitrogen for its photosynthetic reaction. As a side effect, the spongy tissue holds water much more easily than regular plant tissue. However, it is also the reason why white plants are less likely to evolve hardened parts which could serve as an adaption against herbivores. That's why white plant taxons are more vulnerable to predators than others.
• Bonus: Increasing humidity adaption costs 20% less EP. (Rounded up)
• Malus: Increasing the combat stat costs 10% more EP. (Rounded up)

Blue Cells

• The blue dye in blue plant cells serves as some sort of light anti-freezing agent. This means that blue plants are more likely to adapt to colder habitats than other taxons. The dye however is more complicated to produce than other dyes and thus limits the amount of gametes each plant can produce. This in turn makes it harder for the taxon to evolve different means of propagation.
• Bonus: Increasing temperature adaption costs 10% less EP. (Rounded up)
• Malus: Evolving a new form of propagation costs double.

Black Cells

• Black plants often use nonblack dyes for photosynthesis, but appear black due to the dense cytoskeleton inside their cells. The resulting strength helps to form harder materials than usual and adaptions to keep herbivores away are far more commonly seen in black plants than in other plant taxons. However, the denser cell architecture adds a lot of weight to the plant and thus severely limits the plant growth as they become heavier faster than species of other taxons.
• Bonus: Increasing the combat stat costs 10% less EP. (Rounded up)
• Malus: Cost for increasing size: 2*(2^x) (x = current size)

Red Cells

• The genetic code for plants with red cells is made of triangular strands of DNA which make them more resistant to changes. This means that the DNA is more robust than those of other taxons and gametes have a higher chance to survive thus allowing red plant taxons to evolve a variety of different propagation systems more easily. Triangular DNA, however, needs more water for its construction than planar DNA and thus has a hard time adapting to dry environments.
• Bonus: Evolving a new form of propagation only costs half. (Rounded up)
• Malus: Increasing humidity adaption costs 20% more EP. (Rounded up)

Green Cells

• Plants using chlorophyll to photosynthesize tend to possess thick cell walls for unknown reasons. These cell walls greatly help the plants to support their own weight and make it easier for them to grow bigger than members of other plant taxons. These walls however make the plant very rigid and temperature differences can severely damage those walls as they can't expand as flexible as membranes do. This is the main reason why green plants are weak to lower temperatures and less common in colder areas than plants which use other dyes for photosynthesis.
• Bonus: Cost for increasing/decreasing size: (2^x)/2 (x = current size)
• Malus: Increasing temperature adaption costs 10% more EP. (Rounded up)

The second category is composed of two types of bauplans that are being acquired throughout the game. Naturally those are not shared by all species made by the team, but all descendants of the first species to evolve one of these bauplans are also affected by the modifiers of those bauplans. The two types are respiration bauplans and flight bauplans. Respiration bauplans are chosen the moment a species evolved its first point of the terrestrial adaption while flight bauplans are chosen when a species gets its first point of the flight ability.

Respiration bauplans:

Lungs

• Lungs are hollow muscles that allow animals to take in breath and to expel the processed air through the same opening. A simple closing mechanism on that opening allows those organism to hold its breath and therefore to protect its delicate pulmonary alveoli from outside harm like dirt or water. The ability to store air in its lungs is also the reason why taxons with lungs have a higher tendency to return back to the water than members of other taxons. Unfortunately, the alveoli of the lungs need to be kept moist to work and combined with the fact that lungs are a relatively large hollow within an animal's body, the lungs themselves are prone to bacterial infection and animals evolving lungs first need to become immune to various bacteria, which most often leads to a direct decline in biodiversity when they evolve this respiratory system.
• Bonus: Creatures with lungs always advance two steps when increasing or decreasing their Ichthyomorphy stat.
• Malus: The species evolving lungs loses two points of BD upon this evolution.

Trachea

• Tracheas are tiny openings in the hide of an animal to allow air to enter the body. Tracheas, unlike lungs, aren’t muscles and can't breathe in. Thus the oxygen has to be absorbed passively, which isn't nearly as effective as breathing. Even though some animals possessing trachea have evolved fake muscles to pump in air, those remain special adaptions and together with the small size of trachea, they remain less energy efficient than other means of respiration, thus severely limiting the size if the animals. On the other hand, due to the passive nature of trachea, they are more energy efficient than other respiratory systems and species utilizing this energy saving method can use their excess energy on procreation.
• Bonus: Each species with trachea will yield one additional EP.
• Malus: Cost for increasing size: 3*(2^x) (x = current size)

Patched Skin

• "Patched skin" is a slang term (read: working title) for a respiration system first discovered and described on a number of exoplanets. Patched skin actually consists of two layers. While the lower layer is similar to regular skin, the outer layer is what could be best described as a hybrid of an exoskeleton and muscle tissue. It is divided into several patches which leaves channel between them. By contracting or relaxing the muscles of the outer skin those channels can be opened or closed at will. As such the lower skin can be isolated from cold temperatures by pockets of air. However, those channels have to be kept wet for most of the time as scales are hard to develop on the lower layer as it regularly changes its shape by the outer layer contracting and relaxing.
• Bonus: +1 on temperature adaption.
• Malus: -1 on humidity adaption.

Flight bauplans:

Solid Wings

• Solid wings are usually protrusions from bones or exoskeletons and consist of one single piece. However, this doesn't mean that they have to be rigid as the wings of insects can be folded to save space, but solid wings have no joints and as such are less fragile but also less flexible, especially when the animal has to take turns.
• Bonus: +1 on combat stat.
• Malus: -1 on flying speed.

Skin Membrane

• The most common form of wings has been evolved by stretching skin between long fingers or limbs. Even slight movements of the wing and parts of it have direct influences on the shape of the membrane and such minimal effort is needed to influence the speed or direction of the flight. However, such a membrane greatly increases the animal's surface area causing the organism to radiate more heat than animals with other wing types. Due to the excessive heat waste, animals with membrane wings are less commonly found in colder areas.
• Bonus: +1 on flying speed.
• Malus: -1 on temperature adaption.

Feathers

• Due to their low weight and large surface area feathers support flight very easily. Since feathers are not connected to the blood stream anymore, they don't give off heat and in fact serve to isolate the organism against cold temperatures by the air trapped between the layers of feathers. On the other hand, animals possessing feathers also have lighter and more fragile bone structures even more than other flying taxons. Thus feathered organisms prefer not to fight or rely on fast ambush tactics as they are physically inferior to other animals when it comes to fighting.
• Bonus: +1 on temperature adaption.
• Malus: -1 on combat stat.